don't change the color of your hair

[pensnest]

Firstly, thank you, everyone who opined on the thorny problem of whether to floralise or tentaculate. I went with tentacles, since the occasion was 'my kids are coming round for lunch' rather than 'Afternoon Tea at the Assembly Rooms' or 'somebody's garden party', which would have required the colourful choice and a fascinator.

*

Dispatches from the Front, part whatever

When last your humble reporter sent a dispatch from the front, the squirrels had chewed through the string keeping the upturned, now-rimless bucket on the pole.

Beast installed a metal clamp, and thus supported, the rimless bucket acted (mostly) as a suitable baffle. Many the squirrel as climbed the bottom half of the pole, found itself in a suddenly confined and translucent space, fought briefly, and descended in defeat. One or two squirrels attempted to climb around the edge. One, once, succeeded in doing so, and achieved peanuts.

Meanwhile, at least one squirrel remembered that the northern wall of the house could be climbed, and ascended to the dining room roof. We saw it, at one point, descend from the roof onto the grass at the back of the house, and flee towards the beech tree. Baffling. Possibly the roof was occupied by magpies at that point. There are regular black and white visitors to the roof, and I suspect four of them at once would be Too Much for a lone squirrel.

It was not until the fourth or fifth roof climb that we witnessed a squirrel leap from the roof onto the horizontal prongs on top of the pole, and achieve peanuts.

Beast removed one of the prongs and repositioned the remaining two parallel to the house.

This proving insufficient to stop flying squirrels, he added plastic bottles to the horizontal poles.

Meanwhile, the squirrels were getting better at clawing their way round onto the bucket. So the bucket was replaced with a redundant dustbin lid half-way up the pole. Unfortunately, the metal clamp supporting it was designed for straight surfaces, not a curve, and did not hold. The dustbin lid made a gradual descent until it was no more than a foot from the ground, and a handy platform for the squirrels.

Beast went to Screwfix for a better clamp.

Meanwhile, the peanut holder is empty.

*

I find I am not entirely committed to winning this war being fought by the oblivious squirrels. They do provide considerable entertainment, and one or two of them are quite intrepid. We have toyed with the idea of colour-coding the little blighters with food dye, via water pistol, and the idea does fill me with joy so it may yet happen. It would be interesting to get an actual head count, and to see whether there is one particularly intelligent squirrel in the bunch or else they are sharing the brain.

I would love, though, to see more little birds again. I can't help wondering where they've gone.

Comments

[badly_knitted]

It's moulting season, the birds are probably in hiding while they replace their feathers.

[sperrywink]

Awww, I'm sorry the birbs haven't been around, but man, your squirrel Front Line accounts are the best.

[pensnest]

Ah! So, with excellent luck, the little birds may turn up soon with their families in tow? I do hope so. Or will the babies have gone off to seek their own territories by then?

[pensnest]

The Squirrel War is quite an entertaining thing. I have to admire the squirrels, sometimes - when I'm not raging and calling them tree rats, anyway!

[badly_knitted]

They will return when they can fly properly again.

[badly_knitted]

The babies should all be independent by now, like teenagers who have left home. The moult is for the parent birds to replace all the feathers ruined by nest sitting, and dealing with rambunctious youngsters. When birds shed their flight feathers, even though it's not all of them at once, they're at their most vulnerable so they hide until the new feathers grow in. =)

[minoanmiss]

giggles and giggles

[pensnest]

This is very cool to know. I had so many blue tits and great tits and robins and some coal tits and nuthatches last year, and they were lovely. I look forward to seeing them again! Thanks for the info.

[pensnest]

I think the tree rats have been hiding from the great death star in the sky today - or else sunbathing on the topmost branches. No sign of them!

[badly_knitted]

You're welcome!

No nuthatches here, sadly, but I have all the others you mention, plus chaffinches, goldfinches, dunnocks, blackcaps, and the occasional goldcrest.

[turps]

I went with tentacles

An excellent choice!

[turlough]

Tentacles sounds like an excellent choice for lunch with your kids.

The Saga of the Squirrel Wars is a constant delight and I'm constantly amazed by the inventivness of your tree rodents. Also, flying squirrels? I'm boggling!!